Machine for washing bottles



N. J. SI-MONDS.

MACHINE FOR WA S'HING BOTTLES. No. 373.315. Patented Nov. 15, 1,887.

I UNTTED rA'rEs zL Fries,

PATENT NATHAN J. sIMoNDs, or WOBURN, MASSAoHUsETTs, ASSIGNOR To THE TRIUMPH BOTTLE WASHING MAoHINE COMPANY, or SAco, MAINE.

MACHINE FOR WA3H|NG BOTTLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 373,315, dated November 15, 1887.

Application filed November 3, 1886. Serial No. 217,865. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NATHAN J. SIMoNDs, of Woburn, county of Middlesex, State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Washing.

Bottles and like Vessels, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to and showing, also, the relative positions of the brushes and rinsing-jets. Fig. 2 is a view of the plates which retain the bottles in position after they are inserted in the drum. Fig. 3 is a transverse section showing some bottles fully inserted in the pockets which receive them and others partially projected from the pockets.

A machine for washing bottles and other vessels consisting of a drum mounted in a tank containing water or other liquid in such manner as to subject about one-half of the drum at a time to immersion in the liquid of the tank, the said drum being provided with pockets or receptacles for holding the bottles while they are being carriedthrough the tank by the r0- tation of the drum and subjected to the action of revolving brushes and jets of rinsingwater by the action of automatic mechanism mounted within the drum-cylinder, is already well known, and is fully set forth in British Letters Patent No. 16,426 of the year 1884., granted to William Whitfield Horner, as also in a patent to said Horner in the United States, December 7, 1886, No. 354,061, the application for which was filed October 24, 1885, Serial No. 180,802.

My present invention is an improvement in the machine shown in said application of Horner, and has for its object to enable a machine such as he describes to be so constructed as to accommodate bottles of various sizes, which machines of this kind have not hitherto been capable of doing, so'far as known to me.

In the drawings hereto attached I have not deemed it necessary to illustrate full y the entire machine, but only such parts thereof as I deem essential to a full understanding of my present improvement.

I will describe my improvement, using like letters of reference to indicate like parts throughout the drawings.

A represents asection or portion of one of the ends of the drum of Horners machine. Between the heads or ends of the drum are placed transverse pieces, which form a-rack to receive and support the bottles E. The outer series of transverse piecesOare provided with apertures somewhat larger in diameter than the diameter of the bottles which they are to receive, while the inner transverse pieces, 13, form rests for the pockets a, which receive the necks of the bottles. These pockets ahave their cylindrical walls cut away at one part,as shown at h,to accom modate any wire fastening or stopper which may be permanently secured to the bottle. The pockets a are secured to the transverse piece B, and inside each pocket is provided a spiral spring, 0, on which rests a thimble or cradle, b, which receives directly the top and neck of the bottle. The cradles are shaped as shown, with a recess into which the top of the bottle is placed, and which acts to hold the bottle in line with the aperture through the cradle and through the transverse piece 13, which permits the brush f to pass into the bottle, as also the rinsingjets g. It is desirable that the bottom of the bottle be at a given point in the drum, whether the bottle be large or small, while being subjected to the operation of the brush, because the brush moves a given distance in brushing a bottle, and it is desirable it should go to the bottom of the bottle. The bottoms of the bottles are therefore allowed to restunder hoods or retaining-plates d, against which they are held by the pressure of thespiral springs 0, so that if the bottle be long the spiral spring 0. will be fully compocket, and the bottle is pressed down into the pocket against the force of spring 0 until the bottom is sufficiently within the pocket to be pressed under the retainingplate d. For bottles having round bottoms'the shape of the retaining plate or hood (I may require to be slightly changed from the form shown, which is adapted for fiat-bottomed bottles, such as are ordinarily used. Such a change, however, will be obvious to those using the machine, and may be readily made when desired.

It the retaining-strip H be used, the plates or hoods d (I may be dispensed with altogether; but I prefer to use the said plates or hoods, as well as the retaining-strips II, in connection with the spring-supported cradles b. The strip II is secured to cross-pieces L in the tank in front of and behind the drum and passes under the drum close to its periphery. A strip is employed for each line of bottles, and the ends of the strips where the bottles first come in contact with them are curved out wardly, as shown at K, Fig. 1. i As the drum revolves, the projecting bottles strike the outwardly-curved ends Ii of the strips and are forced inwardly into position in the drum, their bottoms sliding on the strips. In this position they are carried through the tank, the strips serving to hold them in position and prevent their dropping down into the tank.

F, Fig. 1, represents a concave cover, made, preferably, of tin or sheet metal and supported on uprights from the tank. The object of this cover is to receive the jet of rinsing-water in case any of the pockets should be empty; otherwise this water would be thrown out into the room it, by accident or otherwise, there was not a bottle in each pocket.

\Vhat I claim is 1. In a bottle-washing machine, the combination, with a rotary bottle-holding drum, of

a series of springsupported cradles arranged in the interior portion of the said drum and provided with apertures to permit of the passage of the brushes and rinsing-jets to the interiors of the bottles, substantially as set forth.

2. In a bottlewashing machine, the combination, with a rotary bottlcholding drum, of

a series of spring-supported cradles, b, arranged in the interior portion of the said drum and provided with central apertures to permit of the passage of the brushes and rinsingjets to the interiors of the bottles, and the re taming-plates d, co-operating with the said cradles to hold the bottles in the drum, substantially as set forth.

3. In a hottleavashing machine having a revolving drum, the combination, with said drum, of the pockets a, having slots It in their walls and containing cradles b and their supporting-springs, for the purposes and substantially as set forth.

4. In a bottle-washing machine, the combination, as a whole, of the revolving drum, pockets a, secured within the same and containing the springsupported cradles b, and the retaining-plates d, substantially as shown and. described.

5. In a bottle-washing machine, the combination, with "a rotary bottle-holding drum, of the spring-supported cradles I), arranged in the interior portion of the said drum and provided with central apertures to permit of the )assa e of the brushes and rinsin -ets to the b a J interiors of the bottles, and devices, substantially as described, cooperating with the said cradles for retaining the bottles in the drum, as set forth.

NATHAN J. SIMONDS. Vitnesses:

WM. A. ltLioLnon, ROBERT \VALLACE. 

